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Day of Intensive ConActivity
Aug. 10th, 2017 11:58 pmWe had a better day at the con today, because we knew where everything was and made a special effort to be VERY EARLY. That didn't help with the crowding problem. All hallways are a claustrophobe's nightmare, and the traffic jam begins outside every panel at least 15 minutes before the previous panel ends. Registration is turning people away because they have no more room, which is really sad since some people traveled across Europe thinking they could buy a membership when they got here. I've heard that attendance is way more than expected. The facility just can't handle it. And the security staff is very strict about not letting people overcrowd a room or sit on the floor, or whatever. If room capacity is posted at 60 people, then there will be 60 people and not one more. This irks some people, but I find it kind of comforting, because it really would be a nightmare if everyone who wanted to jam into a room was allowed to do so.
I saw the Nalo Hopkinson interview, and Walter Jon Williams' presentation about his Finnish family history in Minnesota, and why his name is Williams. It was very interesting and poignant, with visual aids. I performed my one and only panel. Robert Silverberg was on it, too, which was pretty awe-inspiring. I think I held up my end pretty well under the circumstances. Then we sat in on Jeff Carver's panel about how to motivate oneself as a writer. It triggered a few useful thoughts as I listened.. Then we all stood in line for over an hour to get into the panel on "The Next 20 Years in Space," with Guy Consolmagno, director of the Vatican observatory, and Kjell Lundgren, astronaut. Guy doesn't want us to land on Mars till we're sure there's no native life, because we'll contaminate everything with our bacteria. Kjell says getting people to Mars is very complex and it's still probably 30 years in the future, just as it has been for the last 30 years. Bad news: current politico-economic conditions have resulted in scrapping the future mission to try to move an asteroid. Good news: the Osiris Rex mission to bring back asteroid samples is still on. Also good news (?): Kjell says the Chinese will probably land on the dark side of the moon within 20 years. So at least someone is going back.
After that, we were tired and hot, and took the train downtown to have a very nice dinner with Jeff and Allysen Carver, their daughter and her boyfriend, and Michael Capobianco. A good time was had by all. The bad news (for me) is that all the standing around in line and stuff is causing quite a lot of discomfort and stiffness etc. for my legs. This is bad news because the Hugos start at 7:30, and the queueing starts at 6. I may not be able to stand in line long enough to get in. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
I saw the Nalo Hopkinson interview, and Walter Jon Williams' presentation about his Finnish family history in Minnesota, and why his name is Williams. It was very interesting and poignant, with visual aids. I performed my one and only panel. Robert Silverberg was on it, too, which was pretty awe-inspiring. I think I held up my end pretty well under the circumstances. Then we sat in on Jeff Carver's panel about how to motivate oneself as a writer. It triggered a few useful thoughts as I listened.. Then we all stood in line for over an hour to get into the panel on "The Next 20 Years in Space," with Guy Consolmagno, director of the Vatican observatory, and Kjell Lundgren, astronaut. Guy doesn't want us to land on Mars till we're sure there's no native life, because we'll contaminate everything with our bacteria. Kjell says getting people to Mars is very complex and it's still probably 30 years in the future, just as it has been for the last 30 years. Bad news: current politico-economic conditions have resulted in scrapping the future mission to try to move an asteroid. Good news: the Osiris Rex mission to bring back asteroid samples is still on. Also good news (?): Kjell says the Chinese will probably land on the dark side of the moon within 20 years. So at least someone is going back.
After that, we were tired and hot, and took the train downtown to have a very nice dinner with Jeff and Allysen Carver, their daughter and her boyfriend, and Michael Capobianco. A good time was had by all. The bad news (for me) is that all the standing around in line and stuff is causing quite a lot of discomfort and stiffness etc. for my legs. This is bad news because the Hugos start at 7:30, and the queueing starts at 6. I may not be able to stand in line long enough to get in. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
